


stay

by olivver



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M, but they dont know yet, friends who are in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:53:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24744883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/olivver/pseuds/olivver
Summary: Nico spends most of his days on camp, but Leo still hates when he disappears without warning.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Leo Valdez
Comments: 13
Kudos: 89





	stay

**Author's Note:**

> idk canon so sorry if this is too ooc. i wrote this a few days ago and idk what was on my mind but yeah.

The cold night air hit Leo in the face as he got out of Bunker 9. It was already late and everyone probably was asleep by now, so he decided to stop working to go for a walk around the camp. Maybe he would get eaten by harpies, but he decided to not worry about it. He had been stuck in his new project for the past days, and it brought so much peace to his mind to be alone all this time. He loved his friends, and he showed to eat at least so they wouldn’t be worried about him, but it was a relief when he went back to the bunker and could be left alone with his machines. 

He couldn’t understand people very well, and it seemed like everyone decided to get even more complicated the past days. Jason and Piper were having problems in their relationship, so being with his two best friends was awkward. Piper talked with him about it, but Leo wasn’t the best with love advice, so he just listened to her cry while hugging her. He felt terrible seeing his friends like that, but he didn’t even know why they insisted in the relationship. 

His other friend, Nico, wasn’t the easiest to handle too. He was a lot better at least, on most days he was around camp and started to get along with people. Sometimes he sneaked out the activities to hang around in Bunker 9 since it was only Leo there. He couldn’t really understand why he would go there instead of his own cabin, where he would be even more alone, but Leo actually enjoyed his company. Some days he goes to Camp Jupiter to see Hazel and Reyna. But there were days when no one knew where he was, and a week later he would be back saying he went to the Underworld or something like that. He felt like the son of Hades still felt out of place sometimes, and Leo recognized this because he felt the same. Much less than both of them used to fell, but it was still there. 

They spent a lot of time together in the bunker, more than Leo wanted to admit. Sometimes Nico watched Leo work, sometimes he slept (to a point where Leo had to make a comfortable bed for him because he couldn’t keep watching the poor boy sleep on the floor), read something or whatever. Leo usually was minding his own business, and if he tried to pay attention to Nico while he was awake the other boy would shoot him a cold glare or make a sarcastic joke. Leo couldn’t blame him, since when he caught Nico looking at him, he also joked about it. It was becoming normal for then to just talk too, about anything, to joke around or complain about something stupid someone did, or what was the stupid thing Mr. D had said that day, or what Leo was working on or what Nico did when he went to the Underworld. 

Sometimes it was weird, but Leo was glad they were friends. Despite thinking the guy was creepy at first, he got very fond of him and couldn’t see himself without him now, especially in times like this when his friends were having issues, Nico seemed like the only one who truly related to him not understanding people feelings at all. It was comforting, he felt accepted and he never tried to hide this part of him, because Nico never judged him for it. 

Not noticing where he was going, Leo found himself near the cabins. He saw a door opening and a figure getting out and resting their back on the door. He couldn’t see much in the dark, but he was sure that it was Cabin 13. He moved smoothly in the dark, approaching without making a sound. He failed in the middle of the way, stepping in a wood stick that made a loud sound. Nico looked at his direction but didn’t move, so Leo just rushed his pace to his side. 

“Kids bed time was a few hours ago, you know”, Nico said with a small smirk, but Leo saw the usual sadness in his dark eyes. 

“Then, what are you up to at this hour, naughty boy?”, he asked and Nico smile dropped. Did he say the wrong thing? As always. “I’m really pumped up to finish my new invention, just taking a walk to breath some fresh air. You?”, Leo raised an accusatory eyebrow at him. 

“Just... looking at the sky before going down”, his eyes raised up to the sky again, and at that moment Leo caught himself admiring how beautiful his friend was under the moonlight. 

“Going down? Oh, c'mon, don’t leave again. And you were leaving without warning me again? I mean, not saying anything to anyone, because I doubt you said something”, Leo started to cry out when he realized what the words Nico said meant. Part of him was being dramatic for fun, but the other part of him was really hurt every time Nico went missing, while no one paid much attention because Nico was a strong demigod who would be fine on his own, Leo couldn’t deny that his chest hurt when he wasn’t around for some reason he didn’t know why. 

“Why would I tell you?”, Nico asked but was still looking at the sky, but now his eyebrows were furrowed, as if what Leo said was really intriguing. Right, of course he was going to focus on the part Leo said about not telling him specifically, and not the part of not telling anyone. 

“Because I miss you? Maybe? Because we are friends and I care about you?”, he wanted to reach out and shake some sense in the other boy’s head, but managed to hold himself in place, not wanting to scare him away. “Dude, do you know that like, we all care about you? Sure, everyone knows you can take care of yourself and you have your stuff to take care of, but we are still your friends so we worry every time you disappear”, he quickly added, trying to not sound too weird by making it about him missing Nico. 

Nico finally looked at Leo, he had the dumbest look in his face, his eyes were wide open and his eyebrows still furred, he opened and closed his mouth like a fish gasping for air. Gods, he looked so stupid and yet Leo just wanted for his hand to reach out for his cheek and gently stroke it. 

“You miss me? Why?”, was the only thing Nico managed to say, since his brain decided to stop working the second Leo’s word left his mouth. 

“You are my friend, of course I’m gonna miss you”, Leo smiled and decided to screw everything and stepped closer and put one hand on Nico’s shoulder. “It’s nice having you around, you know, not only here on camp but on Bunker 9 with me too.” 

“W-why?”, when Nico finally spoke, he sounded a bit desperate. “I’m not even a good friend, I still don’t know how to talk to people, I’m sure everyone still thinks I’m weird. With you I just sleep in the bunker most of the time, how can it be nice to have me sleeping or reading or... I don’t know, I just... I don’t really do much around here. I doubt people even notice when I’m gone.” 

Nico stopped talking and looked away from Leo, ashamed from opening up so suddenly. He still couldn’t tell why, but there was something about Leo that made it easy to talk. He didn’t like to admit, but the two had more in common than it seemed at first. When Nico looked at Leo’s eyes, he saw the same eyes from when he looked in a mirror. Maybe that’s what made him sometimes open up like this, he felt like Leo could understand. 

“Please don’t say that about yourself. Please don’t believe that. You’re so much more than that. You’re so…”, Leo stopped. He had so many things he wanted to say and wanted Nico to believe in him. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing, they always noticed when he was gone, and almost no one was scared all the time of him like it used to be. “You’re so incredible, you know how much we all care about you right? Not only us here, but Reyna and Hazel over there too... we just... well, I... I know they feel like this too but I just... really like you. Yeah. And everyone totally notices when you are gone, as I said, we are all friends right? Even when we want to punch each other in the face.” 

Leo hopped that Nico wouldn’t see what his words really meant, what he was really saying, because he was sure Nico barely started to see him as a friend, and Leo couldn’t lose this, he couldn’t lose another person he cared so much. Of course, he had to quickly add some sort of joke before things got weird. 

“Uh... I know you all consider me as a friend, it’s just, hard you know? To accept you all really like me”, Nico dropped his gaze to his feet, and started to rub the back of his neck, and he whispered his next words so low that Leo almost couldn’t hear it. “Thank you.” 

“So... how about you come with me back to the bunker and have the honor of spending the night watching the great Leo Valdez finish his newest invention that is amazing and it’s totally gonna change our battle strategy for capture the flag?” 

Nico laughed, and gods help Leo because that was the most angelic sound the boy ever heard. Nico took Leo’s hand who was in his shoulder in his own, and start walking in the direction of Bunker 9. 

**Author's Note:**

> stan valdangelo


End file.
